'Reach More' program equips families with 'practical, specific' tools to evangelize friends, neighbors in low-pressure settings
NOVI — Evangelizing may be intimidating to some — but it doesn’t have to be.
Parishes, including the Church of the Holy Family in Novi, are using the Reach More mission training program, which sets out to connect more people together in faith.
“We knew pretty quickly that the Lord had dropped this in our lap and that this approach was right for us,” said Janet Diaz, Ph.D., Holy Family’s director of pastoral formation.
Reach More is an evangelization coaching and training program developed by The Evangelical Catholic, a Wisconsin-based apostolate that works with parishes, campus ministries and military chaplaincies around the world to equip the faithful with tools to spread the Gospel.
The Reach More program, developed in 2015, seeks to help parishes become more vibrant by teaching everyday Catholics how to evangelize their friends, neighbors and community by implementing a process of missionary discipleship formation and training.
“Our pastor, Fr. Bob LaCroix, heard about Reach More from a fellow missionary in the Archdiocese of Detroit,” Diaz said. “We met with the folks from The Evangelical Catholic and learned about Reach More.”
Impressed with what he learned about Reach More, Fr. LaCroix agreed to bring the program to Holy Family in Fall 2023. So far, the parish has had seven small groups train through the program.
“Reach More provides this training excellently. It is practical, specific, and extensive," Fr. LaCroix said. "Reach More focuses strategically on equipping ordinary people to examine the relationships within their sphere of influence for natural opportunities to share faith and tell personal stories of experiencing God's goodness.”
Holy Family uses the Reach More training as part of its larger lay formation program.
“The first year of lay formation focuses on human and spiritual formation of the person, so we're really getting ourselves into great shape for evangelization, like athletes training for their sport," Diaz said. The parish has been using Reach More as part of the second year of formation.
“Once we have allowed the Lord to form us to some degree on the spiritual and human levels, we are more ready to tackle the tough world of evangelization, where there will be much opposition at times and where great faith and perseverance will be required of us,” Diaz said.
Holy Family parishioner Javier Diaz (no relation to Janet) described Reach More as “a really good experience that helped me to better express my faith and develop the ability to share it with others.”
Javier was encouraged by Janet Diaz to take the course with the understanding that “the objective was to develop people to be able to become evangelical Catholics,” he said.
“These words resonated with me, and for a long time I was praying to God that I would be able to share with others my faith, but I just did not know how to,” Javier Diaz told Detroit Catholic.
Often, Catholics approach the subject of evangelization with a sense of reticence, or even skepticism, Janet Diaz said, because they aren't sure how to approach others in their sphere of influence or even begin a conversation.
But it doesn't have to be complicated, Janet Diaz said.
“Reach More focuses on relational evangelization, which means evangelizing within the relationships we already have — family, friends, co-workers, neighbors,” she said. “Although (at Holy Family) we love and frequently practice street evangelization, we know that most of our parishioners feel called to evangelization right within their own circles of influence, so Reach More was the perfect answer for us.”
Apostolates such as Warren-based St. Paul Street Evangelization have been effective in their outreach, which often involves striking up conversations with complete strangers in public places, but not everyone is comfortable in such settings, Janet Diaz acknowledged.
“The vast majority of Catholics, in my opinion, do not feel comfortable with (street) evangelization," Janet Diaz said. "Every single baptized Catholic has a duty to share his faith in Jesus and the Catholic Church with others, but there is great diversity in terms of the specific type of evangelization to which each disciple is called.”
In participating in the Reach More program, Javier Diaz, 38, took himself out of his comfort zone.
“I’m not an extrovert. For me, it was easy to talk about God with close friends from church, but outside of there, I was not able to approach anybody,” Javier Diaz said. “I always had the idea and motivation to do something else; I just didn’t know how to do that.”
Javier Diaz and his wife, Sandra, took the program together — which was a bit of a challenge, given the couple's two young children at home. However, the Diaz family adapted to the new and busy schedule throughout the 12 weeks of training.
“My kids were always happy because they met kids from the other families at Reach More to play with while the parents were busy with the videos and talks,” Javier Diaz said.
Javier Diaz, an engineer by trade, said the Reach More program challenged him to develop new skills and methods of conversation with friends and family members about his Catholic faith.
“Since the beginning, my purpose was to focus on people who either had no beliefs, or are religious, but not Christians, especially in my workplace environment,” he explained. “My objective was to bring others to God through my actions and duties, doing something as simple as a smile, or helping others when they are in need.”
Thanks to their involvement in Holy Family's lay formation programs, the Diaz family sees evangelization as part of their vocation.
“Reach More helped me in many ways,” Javier Diaz said. “It is a program that not only teaches religious education, but also how to become an ambassador of God in every instance of your life."
Fr. LaCroix said the Reach More program has been a game-changer for the parish, and said he hopes other parishes will discover ways to help parishioners become missionaries in their own circles of influence.
“In the Catholic Church today, there is much talk about the urgent need for evangelization, but very little understanding about what evangelization practically is and even less training (for both priests and lay people) in how to do it," Fr. LaCroix said.
“I would love to see every parishioner receive this training,” Fr. LaCroix added. “It is applicable to every Catholic who aspires to be a disciple, who says with the prophet Isaiah, ‘Here I am. Send me.’"
